For years geologists have tried to understand why the San Andreas Fault is so
weak. In work supported by the DOE's Office of Energy Research, geochemists
Mack Kennedy, Yousif Kharaka and their colleagues have found that part of the
answer lies in the fault's surprisingly intricate connections with the Earth's
mantle, deep underground.

The San Andreas, a classic strike-slip fault, marks the collisional boundary
where the Pacific and North American plates meet. The forces at the boundary
are compressive, yet fault failure is by shear, as the Pacific plate slides
steadily if intermittently northward. Friction measurements in the laboratory
on fault zone materials suggest that considerably more shear stress than is
actually observed should be required for the fault to fail and the earth to
move.

"The forces and movement of the fault should produce frictional heating," says
Kennedy, a member of the Earth Sciences Division, "but paradoxically, nobody's
seen the expected heating in the vicinity of the fault. One possibility is that
high-pressure fluids are acting as a sort of lubricant."

Abnormally high pressures have been measured in rock pores at shallow depths,
Kennedy says, "but to fully understand how the fault works it is extremely
important to find out exactly what's down there."

Geologists, including Mark Zoback of Stanford University, have proposed
drilling a deep hole right through the fault, three kilometers deep or more.
"It occurred to us that if a bore hole encountered fluids, we would need to
know where they came from," says Kennedy. "We located all the springs, seeps
and wells we could that showed evidence of deep-circulating fluids. We sampled
them for carbon dioxide, hydrogen, noble gases, and so on. The fluid chemistry
was in equilibrium with the local geology, as we'd expected, but in the course
of this work, we found a helium-three signature in all the samples, which we
did not expect."

Kennedy determines helium ratios using a sophisticated gas-separation system
and mass spectrometer, mounted in a truck trailer that can go on location when
necessary. The high ratios of rare helium three (helium with only one neutron
in its nucleus) to more common helium four (whose nucleus consists of two
neutrons and two protons) in the San Andreas fluids were telling clues to their
origin.

Two competing models have sought to explain the origin of high-pressure fluids
in fault zones. One, the "closed box" model, suggests that local crustal
fluids, including groundwater, are drawn into the fault zone in response to
fault rupture and become trapped by mineral reactions; when the sealed fault
zone compacts, the high fluid pressures required to weaken it are
reestablished.

In the Rice model, by contrast, high fluid pressure in the fault is only the
tip of a vertical "tongue" of high-pressure fluids originating in the mantle,
30 kilometers deep and deeper, that are focused into the fault zone by a root
zone through the ductile base of the crust.

The Earth's atmosphere contains fewer than one and a half helium-three atoms
for every million atoms of helium four. In crustal fluids, the ratio is even
less--only two hundredths of the ratio in air. But in mantle fluids, the ratio
of helium three to helium four is about eight times greater than in the air.

In fluids from the San Andreas Fault region, Kennedy and his colleagues found
helium-three ratios that varied from over a tenth to as much as four times the
ratio in air. "Some of this fluid could have come only from the mantle," says
Kennedy. "The Rice model is at least partially correct."

The degree to which high-pressure mantle fluids contribute to the weakness of
the San Andreas Fault, while large, remains indefinite, because Kennedy and his
colleagues cannot be sure whether their sample fluids were tapped directly from
the fault zone or from the adjacent crust. Meanwhile, the discoveries have
raised interesting questions about the structure of the fault itself.

As fluids flow upward, helium three from the mantle is increasingly diluted by
helium four produced from the steady radioactive decay of various elements in
the crust. The ratio at a given site yields an estimate of how quickly the
fluid reached that site from the mantle. The distribution of Kennedy's results
leaves open the possibility that mantle fluid is flowing into the San Andreas
Fault from great distances away.

"There may be a regional decollement that extends as far east as the Sierra
Nevada--maybe even under the Sierra," says Kennedy, noting the presence of soda
springs near the crest of the Sierra which contain carbon dioxide that may have
come from the mantle.

As for the nature of the mantle fluid, Kennedy says, "We don't know the
chemistry, but it's likely to be rich in carbon dioxide and perhaps water under
tremendous pressure"--a mystery even a deep well won't answer in a
straightforward way--"but we'd really like to get fluids directly from the
fault, to help us understand what makes the fault move the way it does. That's
one of several good reasons to bore a deep well."

Kennedy and his colleagues presented their results in the Nov. 14, 1997 issue
of Science.

Photo:Mack Kennedy used a custom-built mass spectrometer to determine
helium-ion ratios in fluids from the San Andreas Fault zone. (san andreas)

Photo:The San Andreas fault cuts through the Mecca Hills in southern California. Photo by Robert E. Wallace / U.S. Geological Society
(valley)

Berkeley Lab will be awarded an education grant from the State of California
for a program that will enhance the instruction and curricula of "integrated
science" in public schools.

The "Integrated Science Partnership Project" was developed by Marva Wilkins of
the Laboratory's Center for Science and Engineering Education, and Don Hubbard,
a Berkeley High School science teacher. It will include collaborations between
scientists here and with Hubbard's colleagues and their students.

The first-year $60,000 grant from the state's Eisenhower Professional
Development Program will support a four-week summer institute at the Laboratory
for 10 science teachers from northern California. The teachers will engage in
research projects that illustrate the interdependence of different branches of
science, and will modify their curriculum materials based upon those
experiences.

"With its multi-disciplinary, mission-oriented programs, unique facilities and
world-class staff, Berkeley Lab represents a rich and ideal resource for
teachers of integrated science," Wilkins said. "This project will give teachers
first-hand experience of applied multi-disciplinary research which they can
take back to their classrooms."

Wilkins, a former math teacher in the Berkeley schools, said teaching
integrated science, as opposed to science by individual discipline (biology,
chemistry, physics, etc.), requires a solid understanding of fundamental
concepts as well as the knowledge of how they interconnect in solving difficult
science problems. Developed in the early 1990s, integrated science often does
not have comprehensive textbooks, and thus curriculum development depends upon
teacher initiative in presenting themes and real-world applications.

"Integrated science fosters science literacy, and it is important that the
courses not only succeed in making science more accessible to students, but
also meet the needs of those students who are preparing for college admission,"
Wilkins added.

This spring, the project will conduct a design institute, during which teacher
coordinators and scientists will design the research activities to be presented
in the summer, and a one-day awareness conference to which northern California
educators will learn about the project and provide feedback.

At the summer institute, a teacher whose curriculum includes "The Physics of
the Human Body" might interact with scientists at the Advanced Light Source
whose research relates to human anatomy and physiology. Working on a project
utilizing, say, the x-ray crystallography beamline, the teacher will collect
data about biological and chemical processes and also learn about the physics
of the machine. Scientist and teacher will work together to develop refinements
to the curriculum based upon this hands-on experience.

Three one-day follow-up institutes will be held at the Lab during the school
year following the summer institute, to extend research activities and to
evaluate the effectiveness of the curriculum enhancements.

If funding is approved for years two and three, students from Berkeley High
School will also be involved in integrated science workshops at the Lab. In
addition to gaining a broader context to classroom learning, the students will
be expected to serve as peer tutors when they return to school.Wilkins
emphasized that beyond the benefits for science teaching in public schools, Lab
participants will have the opportunity to learn more about current educational
practices as well as inform the way they communicate their own findings and
practices to the public.

Activities in the project will be supported by Nexus, a new Internet site that
will facilitate further two-way communication and interaction between
scientists and educators throughout the year. "The network of scientists and
teachers that the project is designed to create will provide a vibrant forum
for dynamic teacher-scientist interaction and additional knowledge and
curriculum enhancement long after the end of the project," Wilkins said.

More information about the project and Berkeley Lab participation in it will be
provided in future issues of Currents.

Kenneth S. Pitzer, a world-class chemist, former associate director of
Berkeley Lab, and retired professor at UC Berkeley's College of Chemistry, died
on Dec. 26 of heart failure after a short illness. He was 83.

Pitzer was well known for his long research career and his tenure as a
university administrator. During the 1960s he was president of Rice and
Stanford Universities. He was also a past chairman of the Atomic Energy
Commission and of the National Academy of Sciences.

"What was so impressive about him was his broad range of interests," said
Norman Phillips of Material Sciences and UC Berkeley, who has known Pitzer
since his days as Dean of the College of Chemistry. "He had the ability to
carry out administrative duties while simultaneously conducting active research
programs and producing important results."

Pitzer's research ranged from statistical mechanics to chemical thermodynamics.
He began his illustrious career in the 1930s in what was then the new field of
relativistic quantum mechanics, conducting research on the chemical properties
of very heavy atoms. His research later included work on the theory of
predicting thermodynamic properties of molecules and the behavior of materials.
He investigated novel materials for applications to space exploration and other
new technologies, and worked on hydrocarbons and saline solutions--of interest
to oil and the geothermal industries.

In 1983 Pitzer was appointed the first head of the Laboratory's Center for
Advanced Materials. The position carried with it the title of associate
director of the Lab.

As dean of the UC Berkeley College of Chemistry (1951-1960), Pitzer played a
key role in establishing the Department of Chemical Engineering and in
obtaining funding for construction of two new chemistry buildings--Latimer and
Hildebrand. In 1994 he was honored with having a lecture hall in Latimer Hall
named after him.

"When he resigned as president of Stanford," Phillips said, "he was invited to
come to Berkeley as a professor of chemistry. We didn't really expect him to do
much research. We just thought he was such a nice guy and a distinguished
leader. But he surprised us all with the research he produced, which continued
until the end of his life." Pitzer retired from U.C. Berkeley in 1984 but
continued to pursue his research on campus and at the Lab.

Through his involvement in the academia, Pitzer followed a family tradition.
His father, Russel K. Pitzer, was the founder of Pitzer College, part of
Claremont college system in southern California. Kenneth Pitzer supported the
college throughout his life.

Pitzer was recognized with the National Medal of Science and the Priestley
Medal, the highest honor that can be accorded an American chemist.

Outside his work, Pitzer was an accomplished sailor, and was licenced by the
U.S. Coast Guard as a boat builder and designer.

Pitzer is survived by his widow, Jean M. Pitzer of Kensington, children Ann,
Russell and John, and five grandchildren.

A memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. at the Faculty Club (Grand Hall) on
Sunday, Jan. 25. Donations in Pitzer's name--to be used to endow a
scholarship--may be sent to U.C. Berkeley's College of Chemistry, Latimer Hall,
Berkeley, Calif. 94720.

Carolyn Bertozzi and her colleagues in the Biomolecular Materials
Program of the Materials Sciences Division have found a way to use natural
biological processes to plant artificial markers on the surfaces of living
cells.

With these markers, cell surfaces can be engineered to control cell adhesion to
synthetic organic polymers, metals, ceramics, and other materials used in the
walls of bioreactors, and in biomedical implants such as pacemakers and
artificial organs. In the future, living cells attached to electronic devices
may warn of dangerous chemical or biological toxins in the environment.
Bertozzi's group has already used this cell-surface engineering to turn cancer
cells into bright targets for diagnostic probes and cell-killing toxins.

"Our primary goal is to take control of the cell surface," says Bertozzi. "We
have begun to understand the bio-organic chemistry of cells well enough to
treat cells like complex machines--to really do cellular engineering."

All cell surfaces are decorated with oligosaccharides--complex structures
strung together inside the cell from a few simple sugars. Different kinds of
cells display different oligosaccharides, and even the same kinds of cells
display different patterns depending on their stage of development or
environment. Since each oligosaccharide is chemically unique, each helps form a
unique cell surface for interaction with the outside world.

"We asked ourselves, how can we exploit these differences?" says Bertozzi, an
assistant professor of chemistry at UC Berkeley. Working with graduate student
Lara Mahal and postdoctoral fellow Kevin Yarema, Bertozzi set out to design new
cell surfaces that could stick to synthetic materials. "We decided to
appropriate the cell's natural metabolic machinery for assembling tailor-made
oligosaccharides."

Bertozzi reasoned that if a properly designed synthetic sugar with novel
chemical properties could be ingested by the cell, the sugar might be
incorporated in an oligosaccharide and delivered to the surface. The result
would be a cell with new surface properties.

She and her colleagues chose an analogue of sialic acid, a sugar which in its
natural form is often found in the oligosaccharides of human cells. To tag the
sialic acid, Bertozzi's team needed a functional group that was not normally
found on cell surfaces but wasn't harmful either--one that could react with
other groups on synthetic materials as well as under physiological conditions,
such as a watery environment and mammalian body temperature.

They chose the ketone group. Rarely found on cell surfaces, ketones react
strongly with a functional group called the hydrazide; this reactivity could
allow a selective affinity for materials that had been outfitted with the
hydrazide group, such as ceramics, organic thin films, and metals.

The natural chemical precursor of sialic acid is called N-acetyl
mannosamine--also known as ManNAc--but Bertozzi and her colleagues fed cultured
cells an artificially synthesized precursor known as ManLev, identical except
that it contains a ketone group.

"We hoped that if the cells ate the unnatural sugar--without noticing, so to
speak--they would install it along with its functional group in
oligosaccharides, and thus decorate themselves with these unnatural markers."

As planned, the cells expressed sialic-acid oligosaccharides with ketones in
copious amounts on their surfaces--over a million copies on the surfaces of
most cells. Moreover, the researchers found they could precisely control the
degree of ketone labeling by adjusting the relative amounts of natural (ManNAc)
and unnatural (ManLev) precursors fed to the cells.

The interests of Bertozzi's cell-surface group don't end with biocompatible
materials and artificial organs. "We're investigating the cells of other
organisms, such as plants and microbes. We're looking into biosensors, in which
cells designed to lock onto specific compounds can be combined with an
electronic, transducing substrate to signal changes in the environment"--a sort
of cyborg canary-in-a-coal-mine.

Another possible use of reactive chemical groups on cells emerged early on.
"Many human cancer cells, including colon, breast, and prostate cancers and
certain leukemias, have aberrant patterns of oligosaccharides," says Bertozzi.
"For one thing, they show extremely high levels of sialic acid. The
possibilities were obvious."

Bertozzi and her colleagues showed that ketone-labeled cancer cells, otherwise
robust, could be made uniquely vulnerable to a derivative of the natural plant
toxin ricin. The ricin analog, synthetically armed with the reactive hydrazide
group, sought out and reacted with the ketone-labeled cells.

"It worked," says Bertozzi. "We killed 'em."

Bertozzi's group is moving studies of hydrazide-labeled toxins from the test
tube into laboratory animals. Other labeled cancer-killers are being explored,
as well as a method for making ketone-labeled cancer cells stand out in
magnetic-resonance imaging by using hydrazide-labeled compounds for high
contrast.

Bertozzi's team has thus become the first research group to install specific
functional groups on the cell surface through metabolic mechanisms; the tools
they used were "an equal combination of cell biology and synthetic organic
chemistry," says Bertozzi, who intends her cell-engineering methods to be
simple and rational enough to be understood and used by biologists and chemists
working together.

More information about cell-surface engineering can be found in articles by
Bertozzi, Mahal and Yarema in the May 16, 1997 issue of Science and in the June
1997 issue of Chemistry & Biology.

The General Accounting Office has suggested in a new report that Congress
consider establishing an "independent authority," modeled on the base
realignment and closure (BRAC) commissions used to close military
installations, to consolidate laboratory programs at DOE and other agencies.

Entitled "Best Practices: Elements Critical to Successfully Reducing Unneeded
RDT&E Infrastructure," the report states that efforts by DOE, the
Department of Defense, and NASA to evaluate national laboratory resources in
light of their current mission needs have been inadequate. The three agencies
were singled out because together they account for more than 70 percent of the
federal government's $70-billion R&D investment.

The GAO report was especially critical of a study by DOE's Laboratory
Operations Board, which was intended to streamline the national lab system's
infrastructure. This study, the report said, did not address any of the larger,
multipurpose labs which "offer the best opportunities for reductions."

While offering no specific recommendations, the GAO report suggests that
lawmakers consider using practices adopted by organizations outside the federal
government, such as Boeing and the British Defence Research Agency. Both
organizations reduced their lab infrastructures and expenses substantially, the
GAO report said, by relying on "an independent authority to overcome
parochialism and political pressures which impede decisions on cost-cutting."

The report was prepared at the request of Senator Sam Brownback (R-Kan),
chairman of the Senate Governmental Affairs Subcommittee on Oversight, and
House Budget Committee Chairman John Kasich (R-Ohio).

Energy Research Director Martha Krebs, in response to an earlier draft of the
report, complained that it failed to take into consideration recent reforms
made by DOE to streamline national lab operations that could save $2.5 billion
over the next five years. In addition, she said, the Laboratory Operations
Board recently completed a review of DOE's multiprogram labs and had begun a
review of five of the department's small, mission-specific labs. Krebs also
questioned the appropriateness of the Boeing and British models cited in the
report. "The scale of the restructuring was very small when compared to the DOE
laboratory complex, and driven by different considerations," she said.

Copies of this report (GAO/NSIAD/RCED-98-23) can be viewed on the GAO website
( http://www.gao.gov/).

One of Lab photographer Roy Kaltschmidt's photographs of the Sudbury Neutrino
Observatory (SNO) landed the cover of the Dec. 1997 issue of Physics Today. The
photo was featured on the front page of the Dec. 5, 1997 issue of Currents,
along with a feature article about the project and about Kevin Lesko and Roy
Kaltschmidt's trip to the observatory.

The image depicts the core of the experiment--a geodesic sphere covered by
10,000 photomultiplier tubes, which was constructed at Berkeley Lab.

Leading national spokespersons for science, including DOE's Energy Research
Director Martha Krebs and White House science advisor Jack Gibbons, have been
admonishing scientists to do a better job of communicating with the public. And
research-ers at Berkeley Lab have been doing their part.

The new year started off with supernova studies led by Saul Perlmutter of the
Physics Division making the front pages of the New York Times and The San
Francisco Chronicle. Perlmutter and Gerson Goldhaber were also interviewed on
KPFA Radio.

The tubulin research of Eva Nogales and Kenneth Downing of Life Sciences made
the cover of Nature and was reported in Science--a rare double. The story was
also picked up by the AP, UPI , and Reuters newswires, which serve newspapers
all over the world. Both studies were reported on the front page of the Jan. 9
issue of Currents and can be read on the Lab's website at http://www.lbl.gov/Publications/Currents/Archive/Jan-9-1998.html.

The Berkeley City Council has officially gone on record as opposing the Dual
Axis Radiographic Hydro-dynamic Test Facility (DARHT) project, for which
Berkeley Lab will be designing and constructing a linear induction accelerator.

At its meeting on Jan. 6, the Council voted 7-1 (with one abstention,
Laboratory employee Linda Maio) to oppose "any program which would be involved
in the development of new nuclear weapons technology, such as [DARHT], because
such programs are fundamentally incompatible with the historic purpose of the
Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty."

Laboratory Project Manager Henry Rutkowski of the Accelerator and Fusion
Research Division addressed the Council on behalf of the project, pointing out
that DARHT is not being developed for purposes of creating new nuclear weapons,
but rather to simulate testing of the existing weapons stockpile.

"This project will thus provide solid underpinning for the United States
potential approval of the proposed Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty," he said.
"The Berkeley Lab is responsible only for the design and construction of
DARHT's second axis...that will use our unique scientific expertise and that,
hopefully, will pave the way for future research at Berkeley Lab into the
development of Heavy Ion Fusion."

Berkeley Lab is currently in the design phase of its contract with Los Alamos
National Laboratory, where DARHT will be assembled. Lab Director Charles Shank
participated in a Dec. 8 community forum in Berkeley in which the purposes and
uses of DARHT were discussed.

More information about the Laboratory's participation in DARHT can be found in
the Nov. 14, 1997 issue of Currents.

The DOE's Energy Research-Laboratory Technology Research Program (ER-LTR)
recently awarded multi-year funding to three Berkeley Lab research teams. The
program pools the resources of industry and DOE's five energy research
laboratories. ER-LTR is supported through various mechanisms, including the
Cooperative Research and Development Agreements (CRADAs).

Genzyme Corporation of Cambridge, MA, will collaborate with Mina Bissell and
Jon Nagy of the Life Sciences Division as part of a $1.6 million CRADA to
develop new cancer therapies. Using a novel tumor cell reversion model based on
Bissell's research observations, the partners will seek to develop potential
lead drugs for new anti-cancer therapies.

This multi-year, $1.8 million dollar CRADA between Andre Anders of Ian Brown's
Plasma Applications Group and Commonwealth Scientific Corporation of
Alexandria, VA, seeks to develop a novel plasma deposition system used to coat
computer hard disks and read/write heads with ultra-thin diamond-like carbon
films that can be implemented on an industrial scale. The technology is
expected to become a key tool for next generation high-density magnetic storage
media.

Miquel Salmeron of the Materials Sciences Division, in collaboration with
Seagate Technology, Inc. of Fremont, will attempt to characterize and design
molecular lubrication for head-disk interfaces. The goal of this $1.1M CRADA is
to design advanced lubricants with properties tailored for the next generation
of magnetic storage devices.

These projects are currently in the contractual review process. Work is
expected to start mid-February. For further information about the ER-LTR
program, contact Chris Kniel at 510-486-5566.

Gloria Acosta, now an administrative assistant in the Directorate, had a
good chuckle recently when someone found an old poster board--almost 30 years
old--stashed away behind a file cabinet. The prized relic listed the names of
46 honorary members of what was once known as the "4-50 Club"--a group of Lab
typists, all women, who worked in Procurement during the 1960s processing
orders for both the Berkeley and Livermore labs.

"As part of the initiation," Acosta remembers, "an order typist was to qualify
for the 4-50 Club by typing 50 orders within four hours as we pecked on the
large-buttoned machines."

Those who reached the milestone were listed on the poster board, which included
all honorees from 1957 through 1970. These included Acosta, who started her
career at the Lab in 1969 ("I was the last typist listed," she laughed.
"Yikes!"), as well as two other members of the 4-50 Club who are still working
at the Lab: Diana Morris, who works in the Environmental Energy Technologies
Division, and Dee Wentz of Facilities. "We've remained friends all this time,"
Acosta said.

Members of the order processing circle used to type on rolls of teletype tape,
each of which held 15 to 20 orders. "We could spool the beginning of the tape
to a roller which sat atop our large green Teletype machines," Acosta said.
"This roller had a large key similar to a Big Ben clock. Each turn of the key
would tighten the spring, by depressing a lever. The tape rolled as we went
along."

Each batch of orders would be turned in along with the roll of paper-tape for
proofreading. Any order that had an error would be returned. "We mastered the
knack of finding the precise tape within the roll."

Those days were long forgotten for the 4-50 Club members until the poster
board showed up one day out of the blue, bringing back nostalgic memories of a
time only a few Lab old timers still recollect. "I mentioned the poster board
to both Diana and Dee," Acosta said. "We had a good laugh as we reminisced and
took a trip back to the old-days!"

Photo:Gloria Acosta (left), Diana Morris and Dee Wentz and pose with the
poster board of the 4-50 Club. The three Lab employees made the club's honor
rolls during the 1960s.Photo by Roy Kaltschmidt (XBD9801-00062)

It's an ID card. It holds all your employment information. It opens doors for
you--literally--without you having to even pull it out of your wallet. And if
you don't have one, all you need to do is stop by the Badging Office, have your
picture taken, and in minutes walk away with a brand new proximity card.

The little plastic wonder card, which has been issued to Lab employees over the
past year, will eventually phase out the old Lab ID badges and double up as
both an employee ID and an access card to various areas and buildings on the
Hill. The Site Access Office encourages all employees to replace their old IDs
with the new ones, although proximity card readers are being gradually
installed according to a five-year plan. Some buildings and areas have already
been equipped with the new readers in 1997, with others scheduled to follow
soon.

Building access

The proximity card--called so because it can be read when placed four to six
inches away from the reader--is intended to replace the 20-plus-year-old card
key system now in use at the Lab. According to Don Bell, the Lab's security
manager, the old system is failing and spare parts are not available. Also, the
card and mechanical keys, while adequate in the past, do not provide the level
of security needed to meet future requirements.

Unlike the old card keys, the proximity card gives access control to each
individual division and facility. This decentralization allows division
management to decide who can have access to which area and under what
circumstances, eliminating the need for a higher level of approval and
streamlining the process.

"The proximity card allows us to do long range site access and security
planning as we move into the twenty-first century," Bell said.

According to Bell's plan, which he presented last year to the Director's Action
Group, the new readers will be installed on most buildings' main entry doors at
the Laboratory's expense. If individual programs, departments or divisions wish
to have the readers installed for rooms or areas within buildings, they will
pay for them out of project or program funds.

A major advantage of this plan is that it provides divisions with flexibility
in managing access and security according to their individual needs. Certain
divisions--such as Life Sciences--have one person controlling access for all
buildings. Others have one person for each area or building. The downside to
this individually-tailored program is that the task of installing proximity
card readers is very time-consuming, since each program head needs to be
consulted before a building is fully equipped with the readers.

Proximity card readers are currently operational in the ALS complex (Bldgs. 6,
10, 80, 7 and 4), the Hazardous Waste Handling Facility (Bldg. 85) the National
Tritium Labeling Facility (Bldg. 75), the NERSC area of Bldg. 50, Donner Lab,
the Promenade Bldg. (938) and the Grizzly and Strawberry Gates.

Scheduled for 1998 are the Human Genome Building, Calvin Lab, and Buildings 70,
70A, 74, 78, 79, 83, and 88. As the new readers are installed, existing lock
cylinders and card key readers will be discontinued, and the respective keys
will no longer provide access.

Since the proximity cards are not magnetized, credit cards, BART tickets and
other sensitive items are not jeopardized. The cards can be read through
various materials, and may not need to be removed from the wallet to activate
access.

The proximity card project is being managed cooperatively by three
divisions--Environmental Health and Safety, Facilities, and Engineering.

Card holds employee database

In addition to providing enhanced security and flexibility, the proximity card
system has a significant advantage over its predecessors by being linked to an
employee's employment database. This information resides in the Human Resources
Information System (HRIS), which is maintained by the Human Resources
Department. If an employee terminates his employment, for example, the card is
automatically voided.

Re-badging is not mandatory for most Laboratory employees at this time,
although it is recommended in order for the transition to proceed smoothly as
new card readers are installed. An added benefit: the new card allows employees
after-hour access to both Grizzly and Strawberry Gates.

Obtaining proximity cards

The proximity cards are issued at the Badging Office on the lower floor of
Bldg. 65. The only exception is the processing of guests and users of the
Advanced Light Source, which is being handled by the ALS User Office on the
second floor of Bldg. 4. The ALS requests that the User Office be notified by
e-mail (alsuser@lbl.gov) at least two weeks prior to a guest's arrival.

For more information on obtaining proximity cards, contact Sue Bowen of Site
Access at X6395. Additional information on security area managers for Lab
buildings will soon be available on the Site Access website, expected to be
operational by March.

Photo:Lab Director Charles Shank has his photo taken for his new proximity
card, which doubles as both ID and building access card. Taking his picture is
Heather Bliss of the Lab's Badging Office. (XBD9801-00010)

Over the course of the last few years, Lab photographer Roy Kaltschmidt has
documented the building of the Time Projection Chamber (TPC), a major component
of STAR--the Solenoidal Tracker at RHIC (Relativistic Heavy Ion
Collider)--under construction at Brookhaven National Laboratory. (Photo
sequence on top.)

The TPC detector, built at Berkeley Lab and shipped to Brookhaven last
November, will be used to study quark-gluon plasma, the dominant state of
matter in the early stages of the universe.

A surprising alternative to microorganisms for immobilizing selenium
contamination in soil and sediment has been identified by researchers in the
Lab's Earth Sciences Division (ESD). Green rust, a harmless natural iron oxide,
was shown to chemically react with toxic selenium, converting it to a safer
elemental form.

Selenium is a trace mineral that can be highly toxic or carcinogenic to humans
and wildlife. The poisoning deaths of wild birds at the Kesterson Reservoir in
the San Joaquin Valley in the early 1980s have been attributed to selenium in
drainage from irrigation water. The incident was a graphic demonstration of how
agricultural development can result in the accumulation of abnormally high and
potentially lethal concentrations of selenium and other trace contaminants in
soils and sediments.

Selenium's fate in contaminated soils has long been linked to the decomposition
of plant material and other microbial activity, which was thought to be the
primary means by which soluble, chemically active forms of selenium could be
reduced to an elemental state. Elemental selenium is insoluble, which means it
is less of a threat to move up through the soil into the food chain, or down
through the soil into the groundwater. Contrary to this past belief, however, a
laboratory study led by ESD's Satish Myneni has revealed that green rust has
the same effect as microorganisms on soluble forms of selenium.

"We have shown that the selenium transformation reaction in sediments and soils
reduction can take place without the presence of the bacteria, via a different
mechanism," says Myneni. Joining him in this study were Tetsu Tokunaga, also
with ESD, and Gordon Brown, Jr., at the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation
Laboratory. Their results were reported in the Nov. 11 issue of the journal
Science.

Although Myneni and his colleagues are not proposing any remediation strategy
for selenium contaminated sites based on green rust, future cleanups and
environmental management efforts depend upon a thorough understanding of
selenium's basic chemistry and geochemical cycling. Furthermore, the green rust
transformation reactions they have identified in selenium should also apply to
other trace contaminants as well, such as chromium and chlorinated
hydrocarbons.

The researchers analyzed their reactions using various x-ray beam techniques,
including x-ray absorption near edge structure (XANES), and extended x-ray
absorption fine structure spectroscopy (EXAFS). A key to their findings was
that the selenium transformation reactions take place under conditions of
oxygen-depletion, such as in the sediment beneath ponded water. These are the
same conditions under which green rust is formed.

"Other researchers have shown that elemental iron and ferrous oxides can reduce
soluble selenium to a less active state," says Myneni. "Unfortunately, these
two forms of iron oxides do not occur in nature. On the other hand, recent
thermodynamic and kinetics studies show that green rust may be an important
mineral in anoxic sediments."

Myneni and his colleagues are now in the process of analyzing samples of soils
and sediments collected from selenium-contaminated sites for the presence of
green rust. For this work, they will use the x-ray microscopy beamline at the
Advanced Light Source.

Photo:Selenium contamination in Kesterson Reservoir proved so hazardous to
wildlife, it caused the area to be closed. (XBD9801-00061)

"What's New on the Hill," an informal noontime lecture series open to everyone
who would like to know more about current exciting research at the Laboratory,
will begin with two presentations on work that has recently earned Berkeley Lab
national attention.

All talks in the new lecture series will be aimed at the curious Lab employee,
not the experts.

On Monday, Jan. 26, Eddy Rubin of the Life Sciences Division will discuss
"Making Sense of the Genome: Exploiting Transgenic Mice." Rubin's laboratory
recently made headlines with its successful development of genetically
engineered mice that fully mimic all the symptoms of human sickle cell disease.
With this new mouse model, medical researchers finally have a means of
effectively testing experimental treatment for the disease.

On Tuesday, Feb. 3, Saul Perl-mutter of the Physics Division will talk about
his dramatic findings--highlighted in the New York Times and throughout the
country--that the universe, which has been expanding since the beginning of
time, is destined to continue expanding forever. He and his Berkeley Lab team
have gained international attention for their discovery and analysis of
supernovae in galaxies up to seven billion light years away.

Both talks will be held in the Perseverance Hall annex to the main cafeteria.
Attendees are invited to bring their lunches.

The new lecture series is coordinated by the Public Information Department.
Suggestions for future topics can be forwarded to Ron Kolb at rrkolb@lbl.gov,
X7586.

A retirement luncheon and celebration honoring four long time Lab
employees--Eric Beals, Bill Benson, Deane Merrill, and Dave Stevens--has been
set for Wednesday, Jan. 28, at the Holiday Inn in Emeryville. The four
scientists are saying farewell to the Lab after more than 125 years of combined
service. The cost is $25 per person, which includes the meal and gift.

The event will be held from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. at the Top of the Bay, Holiday
Inn Emeryville, 1800 Powell Street. Reservations are required. RSVP to Roberta
Boucher, X7580, MS 50B-4230. Please make checks payable to Stewart Loken.

IDS Couriers, the Lab's contract courier service, operates 24 hours a day and
provides pick-up and delivery service anywhere in the Bay Area and in portions
of northern and central California. Delivery time can range from two or four
hours, to same day, rush, or scheduled service.

Special rates are available for the Laboratory. For service, call 548-3263
with pick-up/delivery locations, time requirements, and a valid Lab account
number. For further information, call Linda Wright at the same number.

Starting in February, class schedules will not be published in Currents
anymore. All information regarding the Oracle and AIM computer
training--including schedules, class description, and online registration can
be found at the following websites:

Procurement and the Computing Infrastructure Support Department have announced
the establishment of a Basic Ordering Agreement (BOA) with Micron Electronics
to purchase discounted Micron desktop PCs with the Berkeley Lab standard
configuration.

All Berkeley Lab employees with a valid Berkeley Lab Procard can take advantage
of this opportunity. The computers are the most recent technology available
that Berkeley Lab has approved for the standard software load. The BOA allows
for the configuration to be adapted according to changes in technology and
Berkeley Lab requirements.

For more information about the BOA or the Procard program, visit the
Procurement website (http:// purch1.lbl.gov).

The Badging Office would like to remind everyone that all reserved parking at
Berkeley Lab must be approved through the Badging Office. To make a
reservation, send your requests to Reserved_Spaces@lbl.gov. The only exception
to this policy is for users and guests to the Advanced Light Source. Inquiries
regarding reserved parking at the ALS should be sent to alsparking@ lbl.gov.
Additional information about reserved parking at the ALS can be found in the
Quick Guide for Users on the ALS web page ( http://www-als.lbl.gov/als/quickguide/parking.html).

The full text as well as photographs of each edition of Currents is also
published on the World Wide Web. You can find a link to Currents on the
Lab's home page (http://www.lbl.gov) under the heading "Publications." The
site allows users to do searches of past articles.

To set up your computer to access the web, call the Mac and PC Support Group at
X6858.

The Berkeley Lab Calendar is published biweekly here on the World
Wide Web and in Currents by the Public Information Department.
Employees can list a meeting, class, or event in the Calendar by using this
submission form. The deadline for
submissions is 5 p.m. on Monday in the week that Currents is published.

"The Catalytic Chemistry of Small Hydrocarbons on Palladium and Oxygen Modified
Molybdenum: Cyclization, Metathesis and Hydrogenation" will be presented by
Wilfred T. Tysoe of the Univ. of Wisconsin at Milwaukee at 1:30 p.m. in the
Bldg. 66 auditorium.

"Electron Roundup at the Quantum Corral and Other Tales of the Atomic
Landscape" will be presented by Michael Crommie of Boston University at 4:30
p.m. in 1 LeConte. Tea served at 4 p.m. in 375 LeConte.

"Recreating Aqueous Interfaces by Soft-Landing Ions: Hydronium and H-Bond
Defect Diffusion and Ferroelectricity" will be presented by James P. Cowin of
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory at 1:30 p.m. in the Bldg. 66
auditorium.

Items for the calendars may be sent via e-mail to currents_calendar@lbl.gov,
faxed to X6641 or mailed to Bldg. 65B. The deadline for the Feb. 6 issue is 5
p.m. Monday, Feb. 2.

Time to take a breather! No calendar items for the next two weeks. Please let
us know of any upcoming events of labwide interest. Thank you!

Due to the large volume of ads received each week, ads are accepted only from
LBNL employees, retirees, and on-site DOE personnel. No other ads will be
accepted. We encourage past contributors to the Flea Market to use other local
services, such as LBNL's online housing listing (call X6198 for information),
and the UC Housing Office.

Please note also:

The deadline for ads is 5 p.m. Friday for the following week's issue.

Ads must be submitted in writing, via e-mail (fleamarket@lbl.gov), fax
(X6641), or delivery/mail to Bldg. 65B. No ads will be taken over the phone.

No ads will be accepted without your name, affiliation, Lab extension, and
home telephone number. You may ask that only one number appear in the ad.

Only items of your own personal property may be offered for sale.

Ads for material for resale in connection with a business will not be
accepted.

No ads for services will be taken.

Ads will run one week only unless resubmitted in writing. Ads will be
repeated only as space permits, and at the discretion of Currents. If an
item does not sell in a reasonable time period, we retain the right to
terminate the ad.

Currents/The View and the Communications Department Staff

Published once a month by the Communications Department for the employees and retirees of Berkeley Lab.